Home Sales Move Faster, Asking Prices Rise

New reports from the National Association of Realtors and from Trulia indicate that home sellers are finding it easier to attract buyers this year and, subsequently, they are upping their asking prices. According to the NAR data, homes listed for sale are spending less time on the market, with the median narrowing to 69 days for transactions that closed in July from 98 days during the same month of last year. For about a third of July home sales, the properties were listed for less than 30 days. As buyers move more quickly to seal a deal, sellers are leveraging that urgency through higher listing prices. Asking prices rose by 2.3 percent in August from a year earlier, Trulia reports, making it the seventh month in a row of gains. Moreover, if foreclosures are factored out, Trulia calculates that asking prices increased 3.8 percent during the 12-month period. | Read More